Dexter has
been working his way through a list of Dr. Vogel's former patients,
searching for the Brain Surgeon killer, who is leaving threatening
tokens at Vogel's doorstep.

In this
scene, he is checking out A.J. Yates. He breaks into his home, looks
around, and notes that Yates has an elderly father in a nursing home.

Opening a closet, he discovers a collection of women's shoes, and lifts fingerprints from them.

We see that Yates is downstairs in the basement, secretly watching Dexter in his house, on video monitors.

He hears Dexter phone Vogel and realizes they are working together.

We also see that Yates has a woman tied and gagged in his basement.

In a second scene, Dexter returns to his house after dark, and finds that Yates has moved out in a hurry.

Discovering
Yates' hidden basement, Dexter finds bone saws and a surgical guide to
cutting skulls, leading him to conclude that Yates is the Brain Surgeon.

A sound
leads him to look inside a tool cabinet, where he finds & rescues
Yates' female prisoner, who is blindfolded and bleeding from a stab
wound to the chest.

Dr. Vogel
comes over when she learns the news, and while she is there, Dexter
checks Yates' computer and discovers Yates has Vogel's patient
files. He reads his own file, and is not happy to learn that Vogel
dismisses his feelings as "an affectation" or a delusion.

The house
is scene again in Episode 5 ("This Little Piggy), when Miami Metro digs
up the backyard, discovering the decayed remains of numerous victims of
Yates.

Q. What is it actually in real life?

A. A residential house - but not in Miami.

Q. What is it actually in real life?

A. A residential house - but not in Miami.

Q. Where can I find it in real life?

A. This house is located at 289 Gaviota Ave, in Long Beach, CA.

That's about a mile east of downtown Long Beach, just south of 3rd Street.

As usual,
for this show, they added a palm tree and a little semi-tropical foliage
out front, to make it look a bit more like their version of Miami, but otherwise it's a fairly straightforward location.

Not many Southern California homes have basements, so it's not surprising that the basement scenes were filmed at the studio.

I shot the photo below in 2013.

[ Warning:This is private home. Do not trespass on their property, knock on their door, or do anything that might disturb the residents. ]

A. In the early seasons, I
usually had to hunt down the locations after viewing the episodes, using
clues from the various scenes. By the now, though, I've developed
a small group of fans, spies & tipsters who kept an
eye out for Dexter filming in their neighborhoods, and let me know in advance when something is about to film there.

Between those reports, my own personal reconnaissance around town, and a
few new resources I discovered, by the time the new first episode airs, I
already know most (but not all) of the filming locations, and only
need to watch the episodes and match up the scenes with the correct
locations.

Rick
let me know that they would be shooting on Gaviota Avenue, at one of
two possible houses. During the filming itself, a fan, Todd, sent me photos of the shoot, which were taken by Dora (including one great shot of Michael C. Hall).